Optimization of Window Positions for Wind-Driven Natural Ventilation Performance

Abstract

This paper optimizes opening positions on building facades to maximize the natural ventilation’s potential for ventilation and cooling purposes. The paper demonstrates how to apply computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation results to architectural design processes, and how the CFD-driven decisions impact ventilation and cooling: (1) background: A CFD helps predict the natural ventilation’s potential, the integration of CFD results into design decision-making has not been actively practiced; (2) methods: Pressure data on building facades were obtained from CFD simulations and mapped into the 3D modeling environment, which were then used to identify optimal positions of two openings of a zone. The effect of the selected opening positions was validated with building energy simulations; (3) results: The cross-comparison study of different window positions based on different geographical locations quantified the impact on natural ventilation effectiveness; and (4) conclusions: The optimized window position was shown to be effective, and some optimal solutions contradicted the typical cross-ventilation strategy.

Review of Window Performance in A Hot and Humid Climate

“…The articles included in this study focused on natural ventilation in a hot and humid climate. The included articles were on sliding and pivoted windows (Hossain et al, 2017); sliding, double, and quadruple cut-up sliding windows, fixed and projected windows (Kim et al, 2019); sliding window opening (de Faria et al, 2018); side-hung, top-hung, bottom-hung, and sliding windows (Liu & Lee, 2020;Liu & Lee, 2019); two window bands with a single opening (Tena-Colunga & Liga-Paredes, 2020); fixed, louvre, sliding, and double-hung windows (Z. ; sliding windows (Yoon et al, 2020); and sliding, horizontal rectangle windows, and louvre windows (Kitagawa et al, 2021).…”

“…Nine articles focused on naturally ventilated conditions: glazing (Kim et al, 2019) and the optimal positioning of the building opening (Yoon et al, 2020). The other articles on natural ventilation featured investigation of the cooling ventilation process (Hossain et al, 2017;de Faria et al, 2018;Kitagawa et al, 2021), hot-cold season (Z. , the performance of indoor ventilation in relation to window design (Liu & Lee, 2019), window-opening degree (Liu & Lee, 2020), and window frames (Tena-Colunga & Liga-Paredes, 2020).…”

Using CFD to Evaluate Natural Ventilation through a 3D Parametric Modeling Approach

“…Most of the work was done within the commercial 3D modeler Rhinoceros 5 or Rhino [71] through one of its widely adopted graphical algorithm editor, Grasshopper [72], and its many plugins. Although numerous architectural design and simulation studies utilized these tools' power function [73][74][75][76], there is still a lack of connectivity between the parametric design platform and the building performance simulation, especially for natural ventilation assessment. Hence, a customized workflow was created to enable the automatization of the CFD simulations, together with a new alternative for post-processing and visualizing the airflow simulation results using Grasshopper native components.…”

Building Optimization through a Parametric Design Platform: Using Sensitivity Analysis to Improve a Radial-Based Algorithm Performance

“…Predominant is the plugin for the Rhinoceros software, the Grasshopper [44]. Published studies that use the 3D parametric platform include building optimization concerning both its overall passive performance and energy efficiency [45,46], or more specific goals, such as solar radiation [47,48], natural ventilation [49,50], and daylighting [51][52][53][54]. Although growth in the application of parametric 3D modeling is noticed, the diffusion of a simplified approach to optimization tools is still timid.…”